The Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y in New York City kicks off a season of special events in honor of its seventy-fifth anniversary, starting with an exhibit of rare photos, letters, and ephemera from the center's storied past.

Internet juggernaut BuzzFeed has launched a books section; James Lasdun recounts how he unknowingly rejected a Doris Lessing manuscript; June Thomas explains how the new Netflix series Orange Is the New Black improves on the Piper Kerman memoir; and other news.

Jennifer Egan appeared on the Colbert Report to discuss The Great Gatsby; Ilia Blinderman recounts time stuck in a crowded elevator with Salman Rushdie; Michael Kammenlooks at the life and letters of Jack Kerouac; and other news.

Anne Margaret Daniel looks at F. Scott Fitzgerald's career in Hollywood; Michelle Legro examines the life and work of poet Sadakichi Hartmann; Paul Theroux argues the case for simple handwritten notes; and other news.

Vermont-based vanity publisher Peter Campbell-Copp has been sentenced to jail for fraud; Scientific American examines the physiological differences between reading print or electronic texts; novelist Randy Susan Meyers discusses the pressures of social media self-promotion; and other news.

Dissident poet Li Bifeng was sentenced to twelve years in prison in China; News Corp, which owns HarperCollins, is in early discussions with CBS about acquiring Simon & Schuster; Brain Pickings features the routines of several successful writers, including Joan Didion, Haruki Murakami, and Ray Bradbury; and other news.

A team representing Saint Paul has won the twentieth annual National Poetry Slam (NPS) in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Minnesotans beat out sixty-seven other teams from across North America to claim the two-thousand-dollar grand prize on August 8. Rounding out the final standings were, in order, teams from Albuquerque, San Francisco, and New York City.